


The Last Week Of Spring Break

by stammed_cleams



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: AcearoRiz, Aromantic, Asexual, AsexualRiz, BisexualFabian, Coming Out, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Pining, highschool dance, jock buddies, thisboyisaceok?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stammed_cleams/pseuds/stammed_cleams
Summary: It's the last week of Spring Break, and Fabian admits to Gorgug his affection for Riz, and that he plans to ask him to the school dance on Friday. A day later, on Thursday, Riz comes out to Gorgug as asexual and aromantic. Gorgug has less than 24 hours to use that information to avoid as many hurt feelings as humanly possible, but conflict is bound to come.
Relationships: Fabian Aramais Seacaster & Gorgug Thistlespring, Gorgug Thistlespring & The Thistlesprings, Riz Gukgak & Fabian Aramais Seacaster, Riz Gukgak & Gorgug Thistlespring
Comments: 17
Kudos: 73





	1. The Unpleasant Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> howdy lads, lassies, and uh.... ladsies? idk old irish isn't super nb inclusive anyway! heres a fun lil fic!!! Riz is the ace representation we were SCREAMING for - but what if Fabian still got that crush??? *insert eyes emoji* enjoy a lil highschool drama as a break from my non-stop edginess.

In the brilliance of the Spring day during the very last week of Spring break, Gorgug wound back and launched a bloodrush ball perhaps a hundred feet over Fabian’s yard out towards his house. It seemed totally unaffected by gravity, launching diagonally up towards the balcony of the ship-home, almost too fast to keep track of. A speck in the distance, Fabian effortlessly jumped six feet straight in the air, grabbing a rope off the side of his ship and flipping up. He did a backflip, got a grip on the place where two planks of wood met, and launched himself up the remainder of the 12 feet. He then twirled once, twice, and upside-down kicked the ball back at Gorgug, landing comfortably back on the deck.   
The ball shot at Gorgug like a cannon, threatening to break both his ankles. In a volley-ball type strike Gorgug bent down and swung around, hitting it with a passionate growl 40 feet directly in the air. When it came back down, he punched it with the side of his hand and launched it at Fabian again - this time near the lower half of the house. Fabian’s eyes widened, and in a risky move he dropped about twenty feet straight down, landing on a knee just barely fast enough to spin around in his kneeling position and hit the ball right back with an intense elbow to it. It flew just to the left of Gorgug, who, while he was able to easily lunge the ten feet it took to get to it, he overshot, and the ball whisked right over his back while he did a somersault five more feet over the grass.   
“Ha-ha!” Fabian shouted from the other side of the unreasonably massive yard, punching a fist into the air, “A good jump, Gorgug, but not quite good enough!” he said. He was panting, though, and beginning to sweat through his athletic white tanktop. Gorgug, from the other side of the field, stretched his back and stood, readjusting his T-shirt with a scream metal band logo on the front. He looked behind him. Now for the hike to get the ball back - it was an intense game perhaps for the reason that actually losing a point means a twenty minute hike to wherever it is the cannonball landed. They always went together - no point in walking to get it alone. Already, Fabian was half-jogging his way across the field.   
“I didn’t think you’d make that,” Gorgug said with a soft smile as he made his way over.   
“Well. What can I say?” Fabian answered, smugly spreading his arms out beside him. “But hey, your coordination has gone like, way up from the last time we played. You missed that last one by a hair, a hair.”   
“If you say so,” said Gorgug, who felt he had missed the ball by perhaps a good mile. “I don’t usually need it as a bulk player but I figure - practice what you’re bad at, right?”  
“Right!” Fabian agreed enthusiastically.  
Suddenly, a chipper voice rang out from the direction of the house. “Boys! Would you like some cool drinks on a hot day like this, what with all the exercise you’re getting?”  
“Yes please! Thank you, Miss Black!” Gorgug shouted across the field.   
It took a few moments for Cathilda’s relatively small legs to carry her across the yard, but with Gorgug and Fabian meeting in the middle it wasn’t too bad. The two of them happily collapsed onto the grass, their elbows on their knees where they held two glasses of iced tea, Fabian’s with mint leaves (“Just how you like it, boy-o!”) and when the drinks were gone in mere seconds Cathilda took the glasses back with a grin. Gorgug, who had long since caught his breath rolled his shoulders back and ran a hand through his hair to break up the sweat. “Alright,” he muttered to himself, and then jumped to his feet, “You ready to find that ball, Fabian?”  
Fabian didn’t stand up. “Yeah,” he said, cracking his back, keeping his eyes in the grass.   
After a moment of him not standing, Gorgug cocked his head. “Something on your mind?”  
“Um, well I- kind of,” Fabian admitted. He gestured with his head, and Gorgug sat back down in the grass. “You know the big - the big dance there’s supposed to be when we get back, the uh, Spring Fling, was it?”  
“Yea,” Gorgug answered.   
“Are you gonna go to it?”  
Gorgug creased his eyebrows. “Um… I think only if Zelda wants to, honestly. I mean I’ll ask her… probably won’t make a huge thing of it cause she’s not crazy about when I make things like, a big deal. I know she likes parties but this probably won’t be wild enough for her tastes so… I’m kinda not really sure yet, uh, why?”  
“I was thinking of asking somebody,” admitted Fabian, “But you have to promise not to tell anyone!”  
“Yeah, got it,” Gorgug swore.   
“Okay,” Fabian said, and gestured in front of himself. “First thing, just sort of - out of the water - I am into both woman and… men, at the moment.”  
“Ah. Okay.”  
“And the person I want to ask is… a man. And he is… one of the bad kids.”  
“Ok. Okay,” Gorgug said, cocking his head, “Well, I think that’s not a bad idea, cause I’m pretty sure Ragh is single right n-”  
“It’s not Ragh.”  
“Oh. Sorry, go on.”  
Fabian sighed. “Well that… only leaves one person, so-”  
Gorgug squinted his eyebrows, trying to put together who that was. “Um… Fabian, that’s super nice and I think you’re a really cool guy, but Zelda and I are actually just seeing each other right now-”  
“No!” Fabian said irritably, “It’s Riz! I’m- I’m gonna ask Riz!”  
“Oh!” Gorgug exclaimed, finally understanding, “Cool! Good luck!”  
There was a moment of pause, before Fabian made a vague gesture. “Well?” he asked.  
Gorgug shrugged. “I think you guys could make a really sweet couple! I think you should do it, yeah, what do you have to lose!”  
“Two years of friendship! My integrity as a person! The ball’s respect, I have everything to lose!”  
Gorgug scoffed slightly, his expression still sweet. “Come on, I don’t think that’s true,” he said, “Riz loves you! Even if it doesn’t end up the way you want it, he’s not just gonna stop caring about you. You’ve saved each other’s lives dozens of times. You’ve seen each other at your literal worst. He didn’t lose respect for you then, he’s not gonna lose it if you ask him to the dance. And besides, I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t want to go with you!”  
“Really?” asked Fabian hopefully.   
“Yeah! I mean, he’s loved you since he met you.”  
This time, Fabian scoffed. “Okay,” he responded cynically, “No offense Gorgug, but I was looking for a pep talk, not outright lies-”  
“I’m not lying!” Gorgug insisted, “And I’m not saying he’s been in love with you, he might not be, you know, into guys, I don’t know, he never talks about it. I’m just saying that he thought you were cool and wanted to be around you since the split second you met, man? Are you telling me you didn’t notice?”  
“I mean-”  
“He still smiles when you come into the room, dude! He has since freshman year!”   
Fabian revealed a hot face and a wrinkled up smile. “You think so?”  
“Yeah, totally man, I know so!”  
He smiled for another moment, before throwing his head back and sighing. “Uh, but then I treated him awful for like, a year! What if he still just thinks of me as the mean jock of the bad kids?”  
“He doesn’t think that and you know it!”  
Fabian groaned, and buried his face in his hands. “I don’t know, Gorgug, maybe it’s a bad idea. I’ve never… actually…”  
“... What?”  
Fabian rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “Asked anyone out… before.”  
“Aw, it’s alright, man! Just go up to him, and ask if he wants to go to the dance! It’s all about confidence!”  
“Confidence! Yes!” Fabian said, puffing out his chest.  
“You just gotta stay out of your head about it! Remember:whatever happens, he loves you somehow, man!”  
“Yeah!” Fabian said, and got to his feet, “I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna ask Riz to the dance!”  
“Yeah, go for it!” Gorgug said, also jumping to his feet. “He’s gonna love you man, go for it! I believe in you! Spring break!”  
“Spring break, I believe in you! Hoot-growl!”  
“Hoot-growl!”

Fabian had plans to ask out Riz on Friday - it was worked out while the two of them walked back to find the ball every movement of his shoulder, every twitch of his finger, every turn of phrase, what he’d wear, where he’d do it. It was detailed enough that for a good laugh, Gorgug gave his best Riz impression, which was mostly just him on his knees with his voice somewhat higher pitched. By the end of the day the role of Riz had been taken by the small bloodrush ball, but before the roleplay could get any sillier the sun began to make its way towards the horizon, and Gorgug’s parents had showed up to pick him up.   
That was Wednesday. On Thursday, in the middle of fixing up his garden in Animal Crossing, Gorgug got a call from Riz. He answered it.   
“Hi, Riz!” he greeted brightly, put down his game, and sat cross-legged on his bed, almost able to sit without his back hunched.   
“Hi, Gorgug,” Riz said. He sounded tense. Gorgug’s smile fell.   
“What’s up?”  
“I just uh… I had something I kinda wanted to tell someone? Other than my mom I mean. And you don’t have to make a big deal out of it I’m just coming to you first cause it feels like if I tell all the bad kids at once it’ll be like… a big thing, which I’d like to avoid. I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone, for now. I’d like to tell Fabian and Adaine one-on-one at least, but maybe the rest I can just… I don’t know, we’ll see, just… under the radar now, okay?”  
“Uh, yeah! Yeah, totally.”  
“Okay,” Riz said sternly. “So… for the moment… I wanted all the bad kids to know… that…” He took in a breath, and exhaled it sharply, “That I am… identifying as asexual and aromantic!”   
Gorgug creased his eyebrows. “Oh. Cool!” he said, and frantically put his phone on speaker and closed out the call, frantically searching for both terms in Google. As soon as he found them, his heart sank. Fabian. “U-uh, yeah, okay. I think it’s really cool of you to… tell me that.”  
“Yeah, I just… think I should formally… come out. It doesn’t really change anything or how I act or whatever I just… don’t want a girlfriend or a boyfriend! I mean that’s not… that’s not that weird.”  
Gorgug shook his head. “Not weird at all,” he said honestly, “You know that we value you as a friend, Riz, and you don’t have anything to prove by having a partner.”  
“Thanks, Gorgug. You know, that means a lot.”  
“Out of curiosity, who were you thinking of telling next?”  
Riz blew out a long sigh. “I… I really wanna tell Fabian but I feel like… Adaine is easier?”  
“Easier?”  
“Yeah, I mean, she’s sorta less interested in that stuff too, so she’ll probably get what I’m talking about and also I mean… she’s not my best friend, you know? I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Fabian is just really wrapped up in that stuff, I feel like he’s gonna think it’s stupid.”  
“No, he won’t think it’s stupid!” He’ll think it’s heartbreaking, Gorgug’s mind spoke up, but he silenced it. “I mean sure, he’s… he’s pretty into relationships and stuff but I’m sure he’ll still respect you. I mean, he totally loves you, I don’t think it’ll change what he thinks of you at all!”  
Riz was quiet for a moment. He was always tripped up by the word ‘love’, especially when it was something to do with himself. Nevertheless, he answered warmly, “Thanks, Gorgug. That helped.”  
“Anytime, man. Good to talk to you!”  
“You too. See ya!”  
“See ya!”  
Gorgug put down the phone and, horrified, stared at the wall for a good ten seconds. This was a disaster waiting to happen. First outcome, Riz tells Fabian his news first, Fabian sulks for a week and all the bad kids go crazy trying to figure out what he’s sulking about. None of them leave him alone, Riz goes nuts trying to figure out what he’s done - Riz thinks that he’s let Fabian down by being asexual and spirals into self-loathing for his just barely discovered sexuality. Not a good plan. Or - second outcome, Fabian gets to Riz first. Riz would have to say no, and Fabian would have to sulk - that was almost exactly the same as the first outcome. Or Riz said yes - and goes back into the closet in doing so, repressing his identity and becoming a ticking time bomb for totally shattering Fabian’s heart.   
Gorgug buried his head in his hands. This was a nightmare - and he had until tomorrow to fix it. But how?  
He needed some council, he jumped up from his bed and jumped down the staircase. His parents looked over from their evening coffee and crystal-powered device they were building. Gorgug then said the very words they spent every day longing to hear.   
“Mom, dad, there’s some complicated stuff going on with my friends. Can you give me some advice?”  
The Thistlesprings exchanged a bright eyed glance, threw their project aside, and pulled Gorgug up a chair.


	2. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When asked for advice, Gorgug's parents recommend he creates a 'safe space' for both of them to openly communicate, so he could help coordinate how things go down. He decides to invite both of them to lunch, without telling either of them he'd invited the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy fellers!!! this is a bit of a chunky chapter, hope u dont mind. i just really like ace riz headcanons ok????? when he told his dad it 'just wasn't happening for him yet' i fdksjfsdjflsjdfsdfas yknow?

“Well that… that does sound like something of a pickle, son,” said Digby Thistlespring. He and Willma were in their chairs by the table and Gorgug was pulled up in a tiny chair across from them. This was the first thing that either of his parents said since he started his explanation of all of it. The two of them were already deep in near-identical thought, their fingers on their little gnomish chins. Gorgug frowned and sat up, bending his back forwards instead of backwards to continue fitting in the room. He tucked his hands in his pockets.  
“Yeah. It’s really bad,” admitted Gorgug, “I think Fabian’s gonna be really upset. I’ve never seen him get all like… red in the face like that about somebody so… I think he really likes Riz.”  
“But you said they were really close before?” asked Wilma.  
“Oh yeah. Best friends. Fabian just wants to take it to the next step.”  
“Well, that’s good at least, that way at least there’s a stronger bond, so, should there be conflict their care for each other should overcome any awkwardness.”  
Gorgug squinted. “I mean… yeah? But it’s still pretty weird, though. Like I’m worried that if Riz finds out that Fabian likes him… or wanted to go to the dance with him… he’ll think that maybe like… it’s his fault?”  
“Well, I hope Fabian wouldn’t make him feel that way!”  
“Well - not on purpose. Just because like, you know, he’d feel like maybe if he wasn’t like, asexual, he wouldn’t hurt Fabian’s feelings. And there’s like… a chance he could just lie and go anyway and that could be really bad!”   
“Yeah, buddy, I can see that…” said Digby thoughtfully, scratching his beard, “Well I- I think that there’s not necessarily a perfect solution to this, buddy, it’s a pretty nuanced problem you’ve got here. But you know what? I think that the best thing to do is make sure both of them can communicate within a safe space, where they know they can be heard, and where they know they’re not risking their relationship with anyone.”  
“And - I think maybe if you gently encouraged Riz to come out with his news before Fabian did, you might save him the trouble,” encouraged Wilma.  
“Yeah, but I mean, Riz’ll find out,” Gorgug confessed, “He’s a detective, and Fabian’s not really like, the most subtle guy.”  
“Even if that’s true, bud, I think Fabian’s out on a limb here as the person to pursue instead of being pursued. He’s a very outspoken guy, and a trend you’ll often find amongst more outspoken people is that they a lot of times don’t like to be the ones who are at risk emotionally, you know, they don’t like to really open up. I think even if Riz does find out then it’ll probably be a lot easier than him making a big show of it. Cause, you know, it would be a real shame if he were to really go into it with, you know, his sheet, and his dance, and his sort of - sort of pirate charm there.”  
“You’d hate to see it,” agreed Gorgug.  
“You’d really hate to see it,” Digby parrotted, “So that’s why I think, maybe, you just open the space up to them, and whatever happens happens, you know, that way it can be a more controlled interaction? Yeah? Maybe ask them out to lunch or something.”  
Gorgug’s eyes went wide in a sort of ‘yikes’ expression. “Yeesh,” he said uncomfortably, “That sounds… pretty awkward.”  
“Hey! Communication doesn’t have to be awkward. It’s just a couple of guys who love each other and one of them is attracted romantically but the other is not.”  
“Uh huh,” said Gorgug, beginning to come upon the typical part of the conversation he wanted to leave.  
“Communication is always important! In matters of sexuality and - hey - in matters of sex too, if that’s what you’re interested in! If not! Hey, that’s okay!” Digby went on, and Wilma nodded cheerily along.  
“You remember the song?” asked Wilma.  
Bashfully Gorgug mumbled, “Yeah I - I remember the song…”  
Nevertheless, Wilma and Digby seemed to have their harp and their ukelele in seconds and had started out with,  
“If you and a friend want to take off your clothes,  
Make sure there are limits that everybody knows-”  
“Ok, I got to go do that thing now,” Gorgug said, now somewhat frantically getting up from his chair and heading back to his room.  
“Oh, okay buddy, good talking to you!” Digby said with a cheery wave, and Wilma joined in.   
“Good talking to you guys,” Gorgug answered them, and then hurried up the tiny staircase back into his room. 

His parents were a little sex-concerned for matters of asexuality, but despite their usual failings the core of their argument wasn’t bad - Lunch. Yeah, he could manage that. A safe space. It’d be awkward as Hell and neither of them would understand why he was doing it to them but hopefully they wouldn’t be too mad once they found the situation out…? This wasn’t about him anyway, he reminded himself, and took out his crystal.   
“Hey Fabian, know this is sorta short notice, but I was thinking do u wanna come with me to lunch at the snack shack tomorrow at 12??”  
He shot that off to Fabian (with a pirate flag emoji after his name) and switched over to Riz (with a magnifying glass emoji, of course) and messaged him:  
“Hey there, Riz, ik this is super short notice but did you wanna come to lunch with me at the snack shack at 12 tomorrow??”  
Then, he waited. This wasn’t lying, right? He never said he’d be the only one to be there. It was just lunch. For all they knew, all the bad kids could be there. For all they knew, Galacaia and Sol could be there. He wasn’t lying. It was fine.  
Fabian responded first with a simple: “ya”. Fabian never texted you more than two words unless there was some sort of emergency situation, so this was fairly typical. One down, one to go. After a moment of anxiety, he got a ping from Riz:  
“I’d love to join you for lunch Gorgug! Any reason in particular?  
Signed, Riz Gukgak, detective”  
(All of the bad kids had tried to persuade Riz to turn off his stupid automatic text signature, and he had always refused. Suspicions had risen that he didn’t actually know how to turn it off.)  
Gorgug answered nervously:  
“Not really! just thought it’d be fun lol.”  
A moment later:  
“Cool. I’ll be there.  
Signed, Riz Gukgak, detective”  
And just like that, it was done. I’ll fix everything, thought Gorgug. This’ll all be fine. Yeah - it’ll all be fine. He was sure of it. 

Lunch was scheduled for 12:00, but Gorgug showed up at 11:30. He couldn’t show up before both of them - that would be an absolute nightmare. Thirty minutes had never taken longer to pass than they did in that cute little semi-crowded diner at his booth by the window, watching for the hangman or Sklonda’s grey toyota. He ordered a strawberry milkshake, more for something to do than for something to eat. He was sure that he was confusing the poor waitress who he told at least 3 times that he was still waiting on someone, and perhaps annoying her too. But however cold it felt, today she could wait - there were more important things at stake.  
“Okay,” Gorgug muttered to himself, eyes still firmly focused on the window. “Just act like you forgot to mention it. ‘Oh, that’s right, I asked Fabian, too.’ They’ll believe that. You’ve said stupid things like that before. I think…”  
Gorgug’s soft monologue was interrupted by the sight of a gray honda passing the window and then slowing down into the parking lot just beyond his vision. Through the window was a goblin with shoulder-length hair and a white button down. Gorgug’s heart skipped a beat. This is normal, he insisted to himself. You’re helping your friends.   
A few seconds later Riz walked into the restaurant and grinned, sliding in across from Gorgug. Gorgug tried his very best not to sound as anxious as he was.  
“Hey Riz!” he greeted.  
“Hi, Gorgug,” answered Riz, “What’s up?”  
“Nothing- nothing much,” answered Gorgug, tapping his fingers against the table, “Just wanted to - um - have lunch, you know, with a friend.”  
Riz smiled, clearly flattered. “Oh, well, that’s… really nice of you,” he said, “It’s just interesting, we don’t usually hang out one-on-one.”  
“Yes. One-on-one,” said Gorgug, he thought pretty convincingly.  
With a squint, Riz leaned his head slightly back. “Oh did you… invite someone else?”  
“No, of course not!” Gorgug said with a laugh, “I mean… I mean yes, I did, but… but hey I… do think we should hang out more one on one, just not… this time for example because someone else will be joining us. At one point.”  
“Who?” Riz asked lowly.   
Gorgug swallowed, throat tight, looking away as he drummed his fingers against the counter.   
“Gorgug,” Riz went on, as Gorgug went on averting his gaze. “Who else did you invite to this lunch?”  
In that second, Gorgug caught out of the corner of his eye the rush of a hot red motorcycle heading into the parking lot way too fast. Riz’ ears perked up and he flipped to face the window, eyes going wide. A second later, he flipped back to Gorgug, looking horrified.   
“Listen - just - please don’t be mad,” Gorgug pleaded, “I promise I have a reason for it I just - please don’t be mad. Oh… god.”  
“Gorgug, I told you I was worried about telling him, I didn’t say I wanted you to orchestrate it for me! This is my business, not yours!”  
Gorgug cringed openly. “Mm,” he groaned uncomfortably, “I know.”  
“Then why are you doing this?!”  
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. But I really think it’d be good to tell him sooner rather than later, I think…”  
“Why?”   
With that, the well of answers dried up as Fabian stepped in from the door behind Riz, confident grin still on his face. The booth was taller than Riz sitting down, so with no impression that anything was off, he strolled right up to Gorgug. It wasn’t until he was facing the table head on that he froze in place, smile falling off his face.   
“Riz…” he said uneasily. Riz looked away. Fabian looked at Gorgug, who looked away too. “I didn’t…” he cleared his throat, “I didn’t know you’d be here.”  
“Yeah, I didn’t either, actually,” said Riz with a grimace. Gorgug was very pointedly focused on a spot on the road outside the window, though this did little to hide the fact that both Riz and Fabian were shooting him incessant confused and angry looks. This is helping them in the long run, this is normal, this is helping them in the long run, this is normal, he repeated in his mind over and over again.  
After a crippling few seconds of silence, Fabian muttered to himself, “Well…” and slid in next to Riz. The energy in there was horrible - neither of the two of them would even look at each other. In a booth that barely fit two people, they sat nearly half a foot apart, enough that Fabian was almost falling off the seat.   
“So um… were we thinking sandwiches?” Gorgug asked, with a forced smile. It was funny - both of them were giving him the same look, though neither of them knew it. Their eyes were wide, baffled and horrified as to why he’d put their social lives at stake. He tried to address them both without making anything too clear. “I know I may have um… I may have forgotten to mention to you guys that I would be inviting um.. the other one in my text but um… The three of us don’t really hang out that much, you know, and I thought maybe a sort of…” Jokingly, he flexed his arms, “Guys’ day, right? Bad kid boys! Just here to talk, or… not talk. Or talk. Talking is good. You know, about whatever you might wanna… talk about. It’s okay if you don’t, obviously, I don’t wanna be pushy. Not that there’s! Anything to be pushy about! Just, you know… pushy about talking…” Beginning to sweat, Gorgug took another sip of his milkshake, “Did you guys also want milkshakes - or…?”  
“Gorgug,” Fabian said lowly, “A word.”  
“...okay.”  
The two of them stood up and Gorgug followed behind Fabian like a dog who’d misbehaved being lead back to the kennel. As soon as the door to the bathroom swung shut, Fabian whispered sharply, “What the Hell are you doing?”  
“I - I can’t really explain it, but… it’ll make sense to you, I swear-”  
“Yes, but are you really trying to get me to-”  
“No!” Gorgug said urgently, “No, in fact, don’t! You shouldn’t, not now!”  
Fabian creased his eyebrows. “Well - what’s the problem with it?”  
Gorgug’s heart sank. “Well - just - it’d be like, super awkward with me here and everything.”  
“Well… well, yes but… then why did you ask us here?”  
“Because, um… sometimes you just need to do things. To help… other things. So we just need to talk about… stuff.”  
Fabian shook his head irritably. “Gorgug, why are you being so vague, just - what’s going on? I mean is there - is there danger, is Riz like, possessed again?”  
“No! No, Riz is fine, I just… will you just… trust me? Please?”  
Fabian swallowed. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Gorgug,” He said cautiously, and walked closely past him out of the bathroom door.   
Coming back up to the table, Fabian (now red in the face), slightly adjusted his shirt, his hair. “Sorry about that, The Ball, I just had to have a small discussion with Gorgug.” Gorgug sat down, finding a place on the road to stare at again.   
“Yeah, no problem, no problem,” said Riz sharply. Gorgug glanced at the table. He had unwrapped his silverware, and was now rearranging them incessantly, fork over knife, knife over fork, an inch to the left, an inch down, an inch to the right. “Did he like… tell you anything, or…?”  
“No. Why would he have to tell me something?”  
“No reason, no reason,” Riz assured him.  
“Why, did he tell you anything?”  
Riz’ bright eyes flicked up to him. “He didn’t tell me anything, no, why would he?”  
“Well, erm… No reason,” said Fabian back, and sat down once again beside him. He picked a spot on the table to stare at, burning under Riz’ analytical eyes. Riz then turned to Gorgug, trying to figure him out when he had no luck with Fabian.   
Eventually Gorgug said, “It seems like everybody’s been… talking to Gorgug!” he made an effort to say it like it was a charming thing, but the exasperation in his face was brutally visible. “Maybe you know, instead, we could, you know…” he made a vague hand gesture swooping inwards from Riz’ side of the table, to Fabians’. “Or not, you know…”   
“Why are you doing this?” Riz asked sharply, “This isn’t like you, man, what’s going on? Fabian, what’s going on?”  
“Nothing, nothing’s going on!” Fabian answered defensively. Annoyance sank further into Riz’ face as he threw his arms up.  
“Okay, well, at first I thought this was about my thing, but now I’m really confused! Fabian, are you hiding something from me?”  
“No!” said Fabian, and then went on, “What do you mean ‘your thing’?”  
Horror dawned on Riz as he first noticed his slip of the tongue. “Nothing!” he defended, “It’s nothing!”  
“Yeah, well, you just said it was ‘a thing’, which is the opposite of nothing, so…”  
“Yeah, well, yours isn’t nothing!” Riz said back, more sharply. “You go first.”  
Gorgug gritted his teeth as silence fell on the table. Fabian looked frantically at him, and then back at Gorgug.  
“If you don’t mind I would… like to hear yours and then bring in mine.”  
“Why do I have to go?!”  
“Well, one of us has to, because so far we’ve just been talking in circles and are, apparently, pissing Gorgug off, which even I don’t really understand!”   
Gorgug sank lower in his booth.   
“Fine!” snapped Riz. He swallowed, and turned back to the silverware again. Fork to the right of the knife. Fork to the left. Napkin folded under once, unfolded, before he managed to cram his fingers under the table and grip onto his knees. He stared at the edge of the table. “Fabian, um…” he said, “I just um… wanted to tell you that, um… I… you know how I never really, um, express interest in other people? Like… you know, romantically?”  
“Yes?” Gorgug looked up at Fabian. His eyes were lighting up. Oh no.  
“Well I um… I wanted you to know… just for the record… the reason for that is that… it’s that I um…”  
Fabian was breathless. Gorgug did everything in his power not to bury his face in his hands.   
“I’m an aromantic-asexual.”  
Gorgug gritted his teeth as he watched the subtle changes in Fabian’s face, in his posture. His confidence deflated, chest caving in. He cocked his head ever so slightly, his eyebrows creased, his lips slightly parted. It was then, and not any moment before it, that Gorgug was sure that Fabian had some real, romantic love in his heart for Riz. This looked nothing like the time he found out Aelwin was in prison - this was bafflement, denial. Absolute heartbreak. Gorgug wanted desperately to melt into a puddle while Fabian’s eyes flicked to him with horrific understanding. This was why. ‘You knew.’ He wasn’t grateful now, but he wasn’t angry either. Just seeing the complexity of his worst case scenario pan out in front of him, watching every piece of it crush him just a little more.   
By the time Riz looked up, of course, Fabian was smiling, his heartbreak hidden behind a veil of support.   
“Oh,” he said, trying to make his voice sound as upbeat as it always was. “Well, that’s… that’s not such a big deal is it? You had me all worked up, The Ball! I thought you had like… cancer or something!”  
Riz laughed softly. “No, no, I’m okay, I just… I wanted to tell you. I was kinda worried you’d think I was, I don’t know… lame.”  
“Oh, please. Nothing lame about not getting your kisses in, Riz! I’m, you know… glad you told me.”  
Riz let out a heavy breath, grinning with relief. “Thanks, Fabian. It means a lot to hear that from you.” He nudged him with his elbow. “Still best friends, right?” he joked.  
Gorgug suppressed a groan. Fabian looked like he could cry. “Yeah!” he said firmly, “Always, Fabian and the Ball, like it should be!”  
Riz grinned and shook his shoulders a little in delight, sharp teeth reflecting the lights in the diner. “Hell yeah!” he enthused, “Now um… what was your thing?”  
“Oh um… Actually I was gonna come out, too. I was gonna tell you that I was, um, bisexual.”  
“Oh!” answered Riz, “Well - that’s okay.”  
Fabian smiled. “I’m glad you think so,” he said, “Just um… figured I should… say it um… formally, you know.”  
“Yeah, of course,” Riz agreed, “Are you - are you okay?”  
“Yeah, I just…” he said, and cleared his throat. When Riz reached out for a touch on the shoulder he popped out of his seat like a repelled magnet, his hands immediately stuffing into his pockets, “I just forgot that I actually told Ragh I’d help him with his math work today, so…”  
“Oh…”  
“Yeah, so… See you later…” His face red, he flipped around and sulked out the door. There was a moment of silence between them, Riz staring at the place the Fabian had been standing. The gears in his head were running.  
“Fabian sucks at math…” he muttered, not as an insult, but as a fact, “Ragh is two levels ahead of him.”  
Gorgug swallowed sadly, and shrugged. “Mm,” he muttered.   
There was another pause, before Riz turned to look at Gorgug. “That wasn’t the news… was it?”  
Gorgug looked at the table silently. His lack of an answer was plenty. Riz looked down for another moment or two before he sprung up and took out his phone, and on his way to the door Gorgug could hear a curt goblin voice saying “Mom, do you think you could pick me up early?”  
On his way out, he nearly collided with the patient elven waitress, coming over for the fourth time with a little notepad. “Did I miss your friends?” she asked, looking somewhat baffled.  
“Uh… yeah?” admitted Gorgug, looking over an empty table, “Yeah, I guess you did… Could I uh… just get like a… like a burger or something?”  
“Yeah! You want fries, onion rings…?”  
“Fries, thanks. And, uh, thank you. For being so patient.”  
The waitress smiled. “No problem!” she said, and took back off into the kitchen.  
Gorgug ate his lunch alone, and tipped remarkably well.


	3. Eggs And A Balcony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riz struggled to put together what it is that Fabian is refusing to tell him. Fabian discusses with Gorgug his concerns about what Riz thinks of him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at me, a chapter a day!! who am i right?? anyway. have a funky time, folks!

Gorgug had begun to think that his little Lunch didn’t really have any point at all. Fabian was still crestfallen, and Riz was still pretty clearly obsessed with whatever Fabian’s real secret was. At least he could say he helped make sure that Fabian didn’t ask him out first - that was a plus, right? It wasn’t a complete disaster.   
Of course, as he had expected, Riz was not content with Fabian’s fake secret. That was why, for the past several days, he had obsessively tried every psychological tactic he knew to get Gorgug to talk, some of which his poor, medium-intelligence brain just barely managed to jump out of the way of. When he tried the classic ‘Fabian actually already told me’ approach Gorgug had to physically slap a hand over his mouth to stop himself.   
“I can’t!” he’d insisted, “Riz, I promised!”  
“Well but you can’t even tell your close friends?! You told me what you saw in the Forest of the Nightmare King, and you won’t tell me Fabian’s dumb little secret?! Why did he look so sad after I talked to him, why did he leave lunch?!”  
“I can’t tell you that!” Gorgug said firmly, “You know it’s different, Riz. I am really sorry, but I - I made a promise and I just can’t tell you. I really hope you… understand that.”  
Riz’ ear twitched, staring him down. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to turn highschool drama into a mystery, thought Gorgug. Normally Riz didn’t care about any of that stuff, but now that it was a secret he probably had a clues board set up at his house that he spent all night rearranging.  
As it turned out, Gorgug couldn’t have been more right.

After failing to interview Gorgug on the sixth approach Riz returned, still infuriated, into his room to his board of clues - it generally just had pictures of Fabian, as well as little slips of paper with seemingly innocuous things he said on them, as well as a few pictures of the rest of the bad kids scattered across to fill it out. It didn’t make any sense. What could Fabian possibly want to hide from him, his best friend?! Maybe he really did want to come out as bi - maybe he felt Riz had one-upped his coming out. Then again, hadn’t he been openly bi before? Why come out at all? Was he sick? Was he dying? Was he dating one of the other bad kids? Maybe he felt bad because he felt like he was dating someone and Riz couldn’t… Maybe he was dating Gorgug. No, Gorgug is with Zelda… They couldn’t be having an affair, could they?  
“Honey?”   
Riz startled at the sound of his mother knocking at the door.   
“Come on in, mom,” he said. Sklonda stepped inside. As soon as she saw the board, she sighed, looking at the ground.  
“Is this - is this about that thing your friend won’t tell you about?” she asked.  
“Mhm,” Riz said, hand on his chin, “I just don’t understand it, mom! I mean - I mean what could he have to hide from me, after all this time?! Why did he look so upset, I don’t… I mean, is he disappointed, you know, did - did he want to talk about like, how sexy people are with me, or what?!”  
Sklonda stepped forward, evaluating Riz’ board of clues. She pulled off a small piece of lined paper, where scrawled in Riz’ handwriting was the phrase, ‘I was really worried about you, The Ball,’, and then the name ‘Fabian’ just under it.   
“He still calls you ‘The Ball’?” she asked, baffled.  
“Yeah, but it’s like - a fun thing now. Like it’s just like a cool thing we do, it’s just what he calls me,” Riz defended quickly. Sklonda, having had a few less than charming nicknames herself, chuckled and nodded. She took a closer look at the quote above the nickname.  
“Well,” she started our cautiously, and then decided against giving her say just yet, “What are your theories, as of right now?”  
“Glad you asked,” Riz said, and twirled around the clues board to reveal the whiteboard surface on the other side, with a list of numbered theories written in blue marker. Around them were frantic clues scribbled in the margins, and below them were a few lettered points of a, b, or c. Gesturing wildly, Riz read them off to her. “One - Fabian wanted to tell me he has a new girlfriend-slash-boyfriend-slash-partner. This one seems pretty likely since that would explain why he refused to tell me only after he found out I was asexual - if he misunderstood and thought that I thought that relationships were just gross he’d probably be even more wary around telling me. Cons to this argument: I don’t see why Fabian would keep a relationship secret and I haven’t found any proof of one. I was thinking maybe he was having an affair with someone in a closed relationship, like Gorgug since he’s been so involved but… I’m not sure.  
“Two - Fabian wants to stop being my best friend. I… really hope it isn’t this one, but you can’t ignore the facts that he appeared hurt only after I exposed myself to him, and left just after I asked if we were still best friends. It is possible that I mistook his guilt for upset-ness, and he actually wanted to tell me we weren’t friends anymore but only bailed at the last second because I took a pretty emotion-heavy friend-action. This theory… is not necessarily any less likely than the first theory but I put it as second because this list is actually rated less on likelihood and more on how much I want it to be the case, as exemplified by theory three.  
“Three - Fabian is dying. I really don’t have any proof for this one except for the fact that if he was upset about me calling us best friends he could be sad that the two of us aren’t gonna be friends after he’s dead, and he didn’t want to break my heart. This one we’re calling top priority since if Fabian’s dying, I’m gonna want to communicate to him points a and b as soon as possible, point a being that he is, in fact, by best friend, and point b being that I will do anything in my power to help him not die.”  
Sklonda put her hands up to stop him. “Okay, sweetie, take a breath,” she advised. Riz obeyed, pausing from his rant long enough to take in a gasping breath, and let it out again. “I don’t think Fabian is dying. Right? Let’s look at the clues, objectively, he’s not showing any signs of illness, he hasn’t been any jumpier than usual, so I think for the moment we can… count that one out.”  
“Okay,” Riz signed with relief, “Yeah, you’re right, you’re right.”  
“Okay, second? I don’t think Fabian is trying not to be your friend. He’s been with you this long, he saved your life in that battle, he was telling you how cool you were just a couple days ago. Now he’s not the most expressive guy, but neither are you, right? You’ve always had an unspoken thing. You slept over his house less than a week ago, and he slept over here not two days before that. If he didn’t want to be your friend anymore, it wouldn’t be this out of the blue.”  
Riz nodded, further soothed by the second debunking.   
“And… well, as for the first one I guess it… could be, but Riz, I… I think maybe you’re leaving out a pretty important one,” she admitted.  
He creased his eyebrows. “What is it?”  
Sklonda looked down in thought. “Say Zayn was about to say something to Adaine, and then Adaine came out as asexual, and Zayn’s response was to look very upset and refuse to say the thing he wanted to say before. What would you assume was going on?”  
“Well, I think it’d be pretty obvious that Zayn was gonna tell Adaine he had a crush on her,” he admitted quickly, before realizing what he had said. He looked to his mom, baffled. “No!” he insisted a moment later, “No, no way, that can’t be it.”  
Sklonda shrugged. “Well, he did say he was bisexual right? And you two have always been very close-”  
“Mom - just - no, it’s - it’s not like that, we’re just best friends, that’s all. He’s not even like, affectionate with me at all or anything, he’s way more touchy with like, Gorgug and Ragh and stuff, and they’re just friends too. There’s no way he feels that way, what we have isn’t like that. He’s just my best friend, there’s gotta be another answer.”  
Sklonda pursed her lips. “Okay,” she said, “If you think that’s not what’s going on-”  
“It’s not. There’s no way.”  
“Then I’m not sure, Riz. Anyway, I just came in to ask what you wanted for dinner. We’re getting pizza.”  
Riz looked up eagerly. “Can you get my half with sausage, peppers, and onions?”  
“Yeah, sounds great.”

Fabian went where he usually did when he was upset - the crow’s nest of his house with a carton of eggs. He put his legs through the bars under the railing, leaning against the post between then and sulking out over his long yard and towards the town beyond. Whenever the urge struck him he’d reach over to his right, pick up an A-grade large, and huck it off, waiting the for the inexplicably satisfying one… two… three… splat! Usually he went down by three or four eggs in - now he was down about a half-dozen, and visibly holding back tears.   
How could he have warped reality so much? He really managed to convince himself that the plan was absolutely foolproof - maybe because Riz wasn’t into anyone else he assumed he could have him all to himself? But he wasn’t into anyone - not ever. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t get to take him to the dance, wouldn’t get to be his boyfriend (though that did hurt its fair share). It was what a fool Riz must have thought Fabian was. He’d find out about it, no doubt. He always talked about the other ‘horny bad kids’ with confusion and disdain, as soon as he finds out he’s going to think you’re ridiculous, he thought.  
“Wait, you were gonna ask me?!” Fabian could hear Riz saying, a bewildered look in that cute little goblin face, “Dude, what are you talking about, that’s insane! Why would I want to dance with you, that weird… elven shit’s got nothing to do with me. Why don’t you just take Aelwyn or something?”  
Fabian pressed his forehead into the bar, hucking another egg off the side as he put a little more effort towards not crying. One… two… three… splat!  
“Fabian?” Fabian spun around to see, stepping off the ladder to the crow’s nest, was a very sheepish looking Gorgug. At the sight of him he turned irritably back around to his yard, throwing off another egg.   
“What are you doing here, Gorgug?” he asked coldly.   
“Well, I… just… wanted to… explain a few things. I promised you I would.”  
“Did you know?” He pulled his legs out from between the bars and spun around to sit criss-cross in front of him, “Did you know the whole time and just… encouraged me anyway?”  
“No!” Gorgug insisted. He sat down on the wood, “I didn’t know, he told me literally the day after we talked about it. I felt horrible, I had absolutely no idea, had I known… Well, I wouldn’t have told you because I promised Riz I wouldn’t. That’s why I did the… super awkward lunch, cause I promised you I wouldn’t tell… and then I went and… promised him I wouldn’t tell.”  
Fabian nodded, calming down. “He told you first?” he asked  
Gorgug winced and nodded.   
“Did he… did he say, you know, why you, specifically?”  
“Um…” Gorgug considered the conversation, “He didn’t say… why me but… for the record he said he really wanted to tell you, you know, sooner rather than later.”  
“Well, why didn’t he go to me ‘soonest’?” asked Fabian, trying and failing to look neither hurt nor angry.   
“Well, um, he actually said he was, um, sort of… nervous to tell you about it,” Gorgug admitted.   
Fabian looked even more crestfallen, something Gorgug hardly thought possible. “Did he… did he say why?”  
“Well…” Gorgug began cautiously, “He sorta… said that he thought because, you know, romance and sexuality and stuff was kind of a big deal to you that you’d think he was like, lame, or whatever, or that you wouldn’t like… get it?”  
With a whimper, Fabian buried his face in his hands. “He hates me!” he dramatically groaned.  
“No he doesn’t,” said Gorgug coolly, “He was just, you know, really worried what you’d think of him because what you think of him really matters to him.” Gorgug paused for a moment, looking down and picking at the wooden floorboards beneath him. “I’m… really sorry you don’t get to be with Riz.”  
Fabian nodded slightly, letting his arms fall to his knees. “It’s not even that,” he said, “I mean sure, it sucks, cause he’s like… you know, really handsome, or whatever, and now it doesn’t even matter, because I’m not gonna get any of it! But that’s like, not even the problem. I just… The Ball always seems to think I’m so cool and now he probably thinks I’m like… really stupid or… whatever…”  
“Hey man? Look at me,” Riz advised. Irritably, Fabian obeyed. “You are Fabian. Arameus. Seacaster. Who are you?”  
“Fabian Arameus Seacaster…” he mumbled halfheartedly.  
“That’s right! And who is your best friend?”  
With a scowl, he looked down further. “The Ball…”  
“Who is it?”  
“Riz- Riz Gukak, The Ball, Riz is my best friend!”  
“That’s right!” Gorgug insisted, punching the air, “It’s been like that since freshman year and it’s not gonna change now! Now listen - that guy loves the hell out of you, man! And no, it isn’t romantically, because that’s not what he’s into, but when you got possessed and almost drowned, who stayed in your room to make sure you’d be okay?”  
Fabian half smiled. “Riz did.”  
“And who bought a friendship necklace and failed to hide it from you for like, four gift-giving holidays?”  
“Riz did,” he said, slightly louder, and laughed.  
“And who watched you dance with your sheet all night when you first learned your passion for dance?”  
“I thought that was you!”  
“Yeah - but - who else?”  
Exasperated, Fabian grinned. “Alright, alright, I get it, alright, I get it, the friendship stuff is more important and that’s what’s gonna last, erm… et cetera, et cetera, and I just need to… take things as they are. Fine.” He said it like it was a bad thing, but he was smiling now, and leaning back on the crow’s nest.   
“I just don’t want you to think that he’s picking someone over you, man, or that this means he doesn’t, you know, care about you or whatever. It’s just not his way.”  
Fabian nodded. “No… you’re right,” he said, then sighed. “Still a shame, though. For a second there I really thought I was gonna get some kisses in.”  
Gorgug chuckled. “Not with Riz!” he said, “That boy, it seems, will go unkissed.”  
“Then why in God’s name would the universe make him look like that?” Fabian exclaimed dramatically.  
“Cruel, cruel world,” Gorgug said with a shrug.   
“That it is,” he agreed. After a moment’s pause, he picked up an egg, one of the last three in the carton, and handed it to him. Gorgug muttered him a word of thanks and the two of them hurled them off in unison. One… two… three… splat!


	4. Everything to Him Minus One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riz has enough of drilling Gorgug for advice and decides to see what clues he can find himself. In doing so, he comes to a terrible conclusion. Gorgug talks with Ragh about how he feels for Riz, and begins to see that perhaps his own motives had been misinterpreted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whats up chumps, chumpettes, and chumpinos!!! i feel like this fic is kinda getting into queerplatonic territory? idk. dont actually know a lot about that but if ur queerplatonic, lmk if the comments if i'm using that word wrong bc im NOT tryna be problematic here. aaaaaanyway not that anyone will read it (bc we'll all be watching CROWN OF CANDY!!!!) but i'm gonna post the last chapter tomorrow and finish this thing off B). thanks for all the comments, guys, been feeling the love. HOOT-GROWL!

By the end of Saturday, Riz had had enough. He hated to be invasive but he wouldn’t look through his things, he wouldn’t move anything… nobody would ever have to know. It was probably fine, he told himself. Nevertheless, guilt went on nagging at him as he pressed himself up against the outside of Fabian’s house, just outside his window in the dead of night. He was dressed in all black and moved so slyly that neither the bugs or the birds knew even remotely of his presence. Before he went in, he reminded himself of his rules. This was his friend, he insisted. He pulled up a gloved hand and looked at what was scribbled on his palm.  
“1 - no closets, boxes, or bags  
2 - no computers, search history  
3 - don’t take anything”  
He nodded, reciting those in his head once more before replacing his black glove and sliding over to silently open the window just a crack. Then, inexplicably, he crushed down and crawled animalistically through the opening that was hardly four inches wide and landed on his feet inside like a cat. Fabian’s room was pitch dark, but of course, Riz saw every inch of it. He looked to Fabian, on his side in bed and fast asleep. He first took a cursory look at him (only what he could see without moving any blankets or clothes, of course - he wasn’t a pervert). Usual pajamas, no labored breathing, no signs of exhaustion or lack of sleep. He looked perfectly fine, at least from here. It seemed his mother was right - he could rule out dying.   
He then turned his attention to the rest of his room. Most of it was to be expected, and had little to do with him. It was fairly cluttered, but it was clean clutter - no food wrappers or literal garbage, just a few jackets and pairs of pants thrown somewhat carelessly into the occasional pile, his backpack and school books, now growing a thin film of dust, thrown carelessly in the corner. His desk was far from a usable surface at this point - it was littered with papers, binders, a few pieces of sports paraphernalia and what looked to be very expensive looking gifts of clothes or jewelry or video game consoles thrown casually onto the desk, stacked precariously on top of each other. Riz rolled his eyes - he loved Fabian, but man was he privileged. Nothing obvious stood out - but there were little things. There were always little things.  
The first thing he noticed was a full suit, thrown onto the ground on top of a pile of other clothes. What was interesting about it is that it was all together, still on the hanger - if he had taken off this suit and thrown it aside out of laziness, he would see a tie, under a jacket, under a shirt, et cetera. But the fact that it was still arranged and on the hanger implied that he had merely pulled it out of his closet and thrown it down. Why would he do that?  
He noticed, too, that that was his only suit, at least like that. All of his clothes were expensive, but he typically leaned on athletic wear, or name-brand jumpsuits. He had no fancy suits - even this one, solid black and formal with a dark red tie, wasn’t anything particularly grandiose. It looked very stylish - not just that… he examined the pants of the suit, seeing where the creases were. A third down, another third down - these were folded the same way they fold them in a shop very recently, in fact. This suit was new, and thrown aside.  
He kept looking. Most of what was on his desk explained itself - one or two different colored eyepatches for special occasions, a laptop, still opened but with a black screen, books from school, old assignments he’d never thrown away, a sports jersey and a few pieces of Owlbears merch from the school. That and, of course, what appeared to be gifts from his mother or family, particularly elven looking ear clasps and rings he’d never seen him wear as well as an untouched crystal, hardly a year old. All the jewelry (not that there was much of it) was kept safe, but not in a way that was pretty. Things twinkled from pencil cases, or from little open tupperware containers just so that they didn’t scatter across the floor. There was only one real, tiny jewelry box, made of a soft black velvet, sitting just there on the edge of the desk. It was separate from everything else - it was different.  
Riz looked for a moment at his gloved hands. He promised no boxes. This was snooping. But it’s not a box, part of him argued irrationally, it’s a case, it’s a jewelry case, that’s different. Despite the fact that nobody had ever called it a ‘jewelery case’ in all of time did not dissuade Riz from taking a step forward and opening it up.  
Inside it was a deep ruby tie pin, catching the moonlight and refracting it over and over it seemed hundreds of times. It was framed in a perfect ring of gold so shiny he could see his face in it. Fabian would never wear something like this, he thought, and that statement was further proven by the fact that it was separated from the rest of his things. Who would wear a thing like… Riz looked down at himself, at the all black suit he was wearing, and in the middle of his tie a perfectly matching onyx black tie pin, the one his grandmother got him for his fifteenth birthday. He’d just put it on instinctively, he didn’t even think about the fact that he wouldn’t be seen and he’d only take it off again ten minutes later. With mounting panic, he looked back to the suit. Fabian’s tie and this boxed tie pin matched in color perfectly. Riz’s face fell. Oh no.  
His eyes flicked around the room for something to disprove his steadily mounting theory, before he came upon a yellow post-it note next to the mirror on Fabian’s door. “April 21st” was all that was written on it. The date of the dance.   
Riz’s eyes darted back to where Fabian slept, lips parted in horror. Oh no.

Riz got home at around midnight that night. As he rushed furiously through the door his mother only got through to saying, “Hey Riz, how did it-” before he had made it to his room, slammed his door, and landed face down on his bed. There he would stay for the next thirty minutes, motionless and in the dark, until Sklonda had done some paranoid theorizing of her own and could no longer hold back a knock on his door.   
“Riz, honey?” she said softly, “Are you alright, did something happen?”  
Upon hearing her voice Riz pressed his pillow harder into his face, and then let out a breath, and sat up still holding it on his lap. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. What could he say? Nothing happened. To this moment he couldn’t even really understand why he was so upset. It was the best case scenario - so why did he feel like turning invisible and disappearing forever? He stared at the ground and sniffed. Talking to his mom usually helped - she was logical, looked for clues like he did, even about feelings. She’d understand what was going on - she’d know why he wouldn’t work right.   
“Can I come in, honey?” her voice came, a moment later.   
Riz swallowed. “Yeah,” he said.   
Stepping in was a sympathetic, tired-looking Sklonda Gukgak, still fully dressed with no implication she planned to sleep anytime soon. As she stepped over to the bed Riz scooted over to one side so she could sit down on the other, his eyes still averted. Sklonda sighed. “You went to Fabian’s house, right?” she asked.  
Riz paused, then nodded.   
“And… you found something?”  
He looked down, and cleared his throat. “He was… gonna ask me to the dance,” he said softly, “I found a little red tie pin in a box on his desk. Fabian doesn’t wear tie pins. And it matched the color of the tie on his suit, which he’d thrown on… thrown on the floor…”   
Sklonda creased her eyebrows. “Well… that’s… that’s a little weird, honey, but it could have been a lot worse. He knows you’re asexual now, I’m sure things will go back to normal.”  
“Mom, you don’t understand,” he said, “Fabian is my best friend.”   
“I know he is, and he still is,” Sklonda assured him.   
Riz shook his head. “I just don’t understand why he has to make this so confusing! I mean… why me, why does he see that - see that in me?!”   
Sklonda shrugged hopelessly. “Well, you’ve always been very close, you’ve been through a lot together, it’s not uncommon, sweetie, for people to find themselves having romantic feelings for people like that.” She paused for a moment, before cocking her head and saying “Riz, what are you worried is gonna happen? Because I really don’t think this will end your friendship, not after everything.”  
“No,” mumbled Riz, “Me neither.”  
“Then what’s the matter with all this?”  
Riz bit his cheek, trying to put it together in his mind. Eventually, sternly, he said, “Fabian… does… everything for me. And I would do… anything for him. And now the one thing he wants me to do I… can’t.” Despondently he gestured outwards, the rare sight of tears coming to his bright yellow eyes. “I try and I try and I just… can’t and now I… and now every time I see him, even if he says he gets over it, I’m gonna know that to some little part of him I - I wasn’t enough! I just… I couldn’t do it, and I wasn’t good enough, and I don’t understand why I can’t just… do better!” He ran a pair of frustrated hands through his hair before he covered his face, shaking his head.   
Sklonda was staring him down, hopeless and horrified. “Riz, there is… there is nothing wrong with you!” she insisted, “And if Fabian can’t accept you for who you are-”  
“It’s not that, mom!” he answered sharply, “I’m sure he will! It’s just…” he let out a sharp breath, tears now beginning to break from his eyes and stream down his cheeks as his voice broke. “He’ll always be everything to me… and now… I’m gonna be everything to him… minus one. And I…” he gave up on finishing the sentence and sniffed, his shoulders shaking once as he wiped his eyes.  
“Alright, come here,” muttered Sklonda, and leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. 

No one heard from Riz. Not on Sunday, and not on Monday. While Adaine, Fig, and Kristen had been nervously talking amongst themselves and sending the occasional text, Gorgug and Fabian knew exactly what was going on. Gossip hit the rest of the bad kids like a freight train, but unfortunately, the only person who really understood all of it was Riz, since even Fabian and Gorgug were somewhat in the dark.  
Fabian found Riz’s coldness extremely worrying. What possibly could have happened? Whatever it was, Riz’s misery spread to Fabian in an instant, and soon everyone was hounding Gorgug about what exactly was going on between the bardy boys.   
As for Fabian, he had chosen Ragh to rant to this time, since Gorgug, in his opinion, had done his fair share of drama-carrying and friend-support for the good rest of the year (and Ragh was eager to hear it). He found himself pacing back and forth in his room (which was totally unaltered, by the way) with Ragh sitting on the edge of his bed hearing him out.  
“I just don’t understand it! He loses nothing in the equation!” Fabian ranted, gesturing wildly, “I went out on a limb, I was wrong, I take the L, and now everything goes back to… exactly… the way it was before, I mean, what, does he think I’m just… just some horndog who’s not gonna get over it and be his friend again. I mean, he can’t really think I’m like that, can he?! I mean sure, I’m a little horny, but surely he knows that our friendship is more important!”  
“Dude - I’m straight up telling you - our little man’s at home blaming himself.” Rahg said sagely.  
“Well, why would he do that?!” demanded Fabian.  
“He thinks the world of you, dude! He probably feels like he hurt your feelings and now he’s at home feeling like shit about it because that’s not a facet of his relationships.”  
“Wh-” said Fabian hopelessly, then sighed and collapsed into his desk chair, rubbing his temples as he slowly spun in a circle. “Can I not… make everything worse… all the time?!” he groaned slowly, “I mean, what am I going to do about this, how do I tell him I’m over it?”  
“Are you over it?”  
Fabian opened his mouth to speak, and then, upon finding he didn’t really know the answer, closed it. “I mean…” he began, “I mean, well, maybe not… maybe not… just yet, you know, but-but the part that matters has nothing to do with kissing and touching and… whatever! All of that stuff I am completely ready to leave behind, especially if it’s what I need to do to make things go back to the way they were! I mean it… it’s a crush, I’ll get over it!” He believed all that, too. The kissing, the hugging, the making out, that could all go - those fantasies were difficult to craft anyway, since he had no frame of reference whatsoever (the most intimate thing he’d seen Riz do was shake someone’s hand). But there was another part of it, somehow, that was harder to let go.  
Ragh was silent for a moment, reading the doubt in his face. He leaned forward. “But…?”   
Fabian shifted uncomfortably. “Okay, this isn’t going to make any sense at all, but bear with me.”  
“Okay.”  
“Sometimes… I look at the Ball and I feel like we’re supposed to be more than friends…”   
Ragh paused, waiting for the weird part. “That uh… sounds like a crush, dude.”  
“No, yeah, but like, not a crush, like we’re supposed to be more… but like more in the friend category. Like if friends and romantic or like… sex-people were on two separate spectrums then this wouldn’t be flipping from one to the other it would just be like… going further on just the friend one. Like I just want to do what we were doing before… but like I want it to be, like… more important. I don’t know if that makes sense, I don’t know!”  
Ragh considered this for a moment. “Dude, you should so tell him that.”  
“Yeah, right, because my idea to talk to him about feelings went so well the last time!”  
“No, I mean it dude. I mean think about it, if that little guy’s asexual, then he doesn’t wanna like, date anyone, or get married or whatever, so like… you and the other bad kids are like… top tier for him. Whatever this is you should totally like… go official.”  
“Yes, but go official with what, this isn’t anything, I mean we were kind of… already there before, all that would change is that we would talk about our feelings which neither of us like doing!” insisted Fabian.  
“You know it’s important to talk about it, bro. You know it’s important to talk about it,” informed Ragh. Fabian suppressed an eye roll and nodded. Suddenly, Ragh’s face lit up, and he pointed a finger. “Oh! Why don’t you ask him to go to the dance?!”  
“He already knows I was going to do that, that’s the problem,” Fabian explained, “I can’t, that’s like, a romance thing, and he’s not into that.”  
“Says who?” asked Ragh. Fabian was silent. He hadn’t thought about that. “Think about it, man, if you can put aside all the romance and stuff and you had never planned to ask him at all, what were you gonna do?”  
“Well just…” Fabian began calmly, “Hang out, party like we always do. Maybe get some shrimp…”  
“Yeah! Do that, but make it official!”  
Fabian squinted. “Make what official?!” he demanded.   
“Bro,” said Ragh firmly, “If you really wanna have this stronger friendship thing and are really gonna be totally okay without romance and sex, that is something that you totally gotta tell him, because stronger friendship is the thing he absolutely knows how to do. You gotta get over there, and tell that little dude that you wanna go to the dance just as his bud, and that that is tight as Hell!” Ragh explained.   
“What, you- you think he’d still want to go with me? He doesn’t dance.”  
“Who cares, dude, it’s a show of good faith! Besides, when doesn’t he wanna do shit with you, man?”  
Fabian sighed. “I don’t know, Ragh. Last time I got hyped up to ask The Ball to the dance it did not work out in my favor…”  
“Hey, well, now you know,” he said, pointing a finger, “And we are gonna learn from that, and grow from it, right dude?”  
“I… I guess…” said Fabian, and stood up from his chair, “I don’t know, Ragh, it sounds kind of stupid, maybe we just abandon this whole dance thing…”  
“Dance or no dance! You wanna make things right, man, I’m telling you, you gotta tell him this stuff to his face, dude! How much did you spend on that tie pin?”  
“Three hundred gold pieces.”  
“What?!”  
“What?”  
“You spent three hundred gold on a tie pin for a guy you weren’t even sure would say yes?!”  
Fabian creased his eyebrows. “Yeah?”  
“Dude - that’s like - literally my mortgage for a year, what the fuck?”  
“Yes - well… this isn’t about making fun of me for being rich, yes, yes, I threw away what is apparently a sizable amount of money for a person of lower income, what’s your point!?”  
“My point is - Do you want to go to the dance with him?”  
“Of course I do.”  
“Then trust me - ask him just like things were before. You two will be that… that thing you said in no time!”  
Fabian took in a breath and let it out. “I guess it’s better than just being awkward for the rest of the school year, isn’t it?” he admitted to himself, “I just… wish there was a word for it.”  
“I can ask Kristen, if you want, dude,” Ragh offered.  
“Let’s not get the other bad kids involved just yet,” Fabian insisted, raising his hands cautiously. He nodded firmly. “But I’ll do it. Just… this had better go better than last time!”


	5. Best Friends (But With More To It Than That)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is laid bare. Fabian follows through on deciding to ask Riz to the dance as 'just friends', and Riz makes his true feelings for Fabian clear. And at the Spring Fling, there's dancing, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good evening, madames, sirs, and respected guests. here's the end of this cutesy little fic!!! i know fabriz is popular but i thought it could be fun to explore it outside of romance, since i happen to headcanon Riz as ace. i hope you see what i see in the relationship!! also!! i may or may not be doing a fantasy high/unsleeping city crossover!! i cant promise anything bc im pretty lazy but ive been throwing ideas around........... so keep your eyes peeled. i cant thank you all enough for how many supportive comments ive received! YOU are the reason it makes it so easy to write - never stop being you!! and enjoy crown of candy, everyone! HOOT-GROWL!

On Monday night (the second to last day of Spring Break), Fabian approached the door to Riz’s apartment. There was a jewelry box in his pocket, and a hint of sweat beneath his hair. He had the sudden thought that he should have flowers - isn’t that always what people have? Is that what Riz would want from him? Probably not - but still, something about having nothing to hold or to do with his hands made all of this seem much more awkward. Nothing like the movies - he had no references for what to do now.  
After a moment, Sklonda opened the door. Immediately worry appeared in her face. “Oh! Fabian!” she greeted cautiously.  
“Hi, Ms. Gukgak, is uh… Riz in?” he asked. His shoulders were in close, his smile sheepish. He thought he felt the temperature drop as Sklonda shot him a brutal, though subtle look - Riz had talked to her extensively, no doubt.   
After a moment, though, Sklonda turned around and said, “Riz, it’s Fabian, he wants to talk to you for a second.”  
With a final, cautious look, Sklonda stepped away from the door towards the living room. There was a moment of terrible waiting before the door on the other side of the room opened, and out stepped a very cautious, very serious looking Riz. He looked down at the ground and took no steps closer to Fabian, talking in a muted voice across the length of the apartment. “Hi, Fabian,” he said softly, “What’s um… what’s going on?”  
“Oh, nothing, just…” Fabian cast a look at Sklonda, before turning back to Riz. “Would you mind if we… talked out here?”   
“...Sure.”   
Riz followed him uncomfortably out into the hallway between apartments, long and gray and unexciting, and shut the door. It was startlingly quiet between apartments, with nothing but the buzz of the poor LED lights to serenade them.   
“Riz,” Fabian opened, and took in a breath, “I’m sorry if I woke you.”  
“You didn’t,” said Riz, and Fabian knew it.   
“Well… I actually came here to ask something of-”  
“I broke into your house!” Riz blurted out.   
Fabian reeled for a moment, eyebrows creasing, “I’m sorry, what?”  
“I’m sorry, I just, I didn’t know what was going in with you, and I thought you were dying and I’m kind of… bad at having friends, so I… I broke into your house.” He swallowed. He’d have to say it all sooner or later - teeth gritted, he pressed through the rest of the necessary talk. His voice was perfectly steady, like he was in a business meeting. “I can’t go to the dance with you. I can’t give you what you’re asking of me. I’m sorry.”  
Fabian gritted his teeth, face turning red at a rapid pace. “Okay… well…” he laughed nervously, “Riz…” he looked down for a moment, heart racing, and put his hands on his hips. “I actually… I mean, I sort of, came to talk about that with you in a little more, erm, depth… I’m not going to try to convince you to do anything, I know what asexuality is, I’m not going to, you know, push it…” He crammed his hands in his pockets, “I just wanted to know if you wanted to go to the dance, um… anyway… or something.”  
Riz creased his eyebrows. “I don’t understand,” he said sharply.   
Fabian cleared his throat. “Well,” he began, getting pinker by the second, “I was thinking about it and all that… that romance stuff, kissing and all that, I decided it’s really not… all that important. But, um…” he cleared his throat again, and swallowed, “You know this doesn’t come naturally to me, The Ball, but um… I want you to know that I don’t want any… kissing from you or anything like that… but I don’t just want to be ‘friends’, either. At least, not like I am to the rest of the bad kids. I don’t know if that makes any sense but, um…”  
“No it makes sense it… it makes perfect sense…” Riz said, bewilderment still lingering in his face as a smile flickered at the corner of his lips. “Fabian, you’ve never been just a ‘friend’ to me, I just… I didn’t know the word for it, so I-”  
“Yeah, I didn’t either, which made coming here super uncomfortable,” said Fabian, his eyes going wide. “But I was thinking on the way over that… I mean, if you don’t wanna change ‘best friends’, I think it… It’ll do the trick for now, right?”  
Riz stared for just a moment, before grinning and openly crying, burying his face in his hands for a moment in disbelief. “Yes, yes, I’d… I’d love to be your best friend, and I’d… love to go to the dance with you, yes!” he said passionately, “You’re… really okay with that?”  
“Okay with it?” asked Fabian, “You’re The Ball. I’m Fabian Seacaster - best friend duo, Bardy Boys. Honestly, why mess with perfection?”  
Riz laughed, tears still coming down hard. “Wow, yeah, I… I really thought you’d come here to try and… win me back, or whatever.”  
“Okay, surely you don’t think I’m that horny, the ball,” Fabian said with an irritable smile.  
“Well, I don’t know, kinda, maybe!” Riz admitted.   
“Oh - also,” said Fabian, and reached for his pocket. He pulled out the tie pin, opening the box. “I’m sure you saw this while you were… snooping around, but… here it is anyway, thought it would suit you.”  
“It’s… really, really nice, is that a real ruby?” asked Riz, impressed.  
“Well, of course,” Fabian answered smugly.   
“We’ll have to tell Fig to turn her bass setting off,” he joked, and Fabian made a noise of agreement. With a grin, Riz put in his new tie pin, and adjusted his jacket, putting his old one in his pocket. “How’s it look?”  
“Stunning!”  
There was a moment of pause between them, before Riz forced himself to speak up again. “Fabian… I want you to know, so you’re not… you know, disappointed… that this is really the best that I can do,” he said.   
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean that you’re not gonna be second to anyone, you know?” Riz told him, staring at the ground, “You’re always gonna be my best friend… but… with more to it than that.”  
Fabian grinned, his chest tightening for a moment as he rocked back on his heels. “Well…” he said bashfully, “You’re always gonna be my best friend but with more to it than that, too,” he assured him. “I guess I’ll see you at the dance then, The Ball! Just like old times!”  
“Just like old times!” Riz agreed, his sharp teeth shining in a smile. With that, Fabian waved charismatically and turned to walk down the rest of the hall. And there Riz stood staring after him, still smiling wide, saltwater still running slow down his cheeks. he looked down at the box with the tie pin on it, and then held it to his chest. There was a flushed, warm feeling running up his spine, one that he knew very well. It was when he felt like this, swaying on his feet, more grounded and devoted than he’d ever been, understood and understanding, that he knew the voices in his head that told him he lacked something were always wrong. This was love - to the strongest anyone could feel it. And every drop his gushing heart could make went ever forward to his best friend (but with more to it than that). 

The lights at the Spring Fling seemed wonderfully magical, even a world riddled with mundane magic. Every color bounced around the walls of the gymnasium and barrelled in lasers through clouds of dry ice smoke. There was no dragon at this one, but the roar or the raving crowd made all the sound of one - Zelda had inexplicably dotten drunk on booze-free punch and started shrieking and spinning her swords to the music, which Gorgug was happy to watch from his place at the drum kit. Just ahead of him Fig was screaming ‘We Didn’t Start The Bad Kids’ to Ayda, who was grinning lovingly from the base of the stage. Kristen and Tracker were making out behind the bleachers, and Adaine was thinking she’d finally, finally, get to hear about the drama she’d been waiting so long for.   
Wandering through the thick crowd she made her way to Riz, who was leaning suavely against one of the gym walls near the corner, aerating a styrofoam cup of punch like a glass of fine wine. He had his hat off for one, hair done, and a full suit, shoulder pads and all. His tie was black, and his tie pin red - the same as Fabian’s color scheme. Adaine put her back to the wall just next to him. She had to yell to be heard.  
“So,” she said loudly, “That’s a cool new tie pin.”  
Riz glanced down, and smiled. “Thanks, Fabian got it for me. I’m really glad Fig turned off her ‘shatter rubies’ feature, cause I’m pretty sure it’s real!” he yelled back.   
Adaine chuckled. “Fabian, huh?” she said, her eyes lighting up. She looked out into the crowd, where Fabian was in the middle of a dance circle made entirely up of the bloodrush team, doing a fantastically intricate swirl with his sheet. A moment later he stepped out of it, making room for a beefy, dwarven freshman to do one of the fortnite-based dance moves. Riz smiled watching him, and sipped his drink. Adaine spoke up again: “Are you and him, here like… as an item… or…?”  
“Nope!” said Riz enthusiastically, “We’re here as friends.”  
“Oh, yes, you’re here as friends, of course, I see,” she jabbered.  
Riz smiled, and looked down. “Really!” he answered, “I just wanted to go as friends.” A pause, and then, “I’m asexual!”  
“You’re what?”  
“Asexual!” he said a little louder, “And aromantic. I’ve been meaning to tell you!”  
“Oh!” said Adaine, raising her eyebrows, “Congrats on coming out! Are you gonna tell the other bad kids?”  
Riz considered this for a second. “You can be the one to tell them,” he said, “I think you’d enjoy it more than I would.”  
“That’s true, now if you’d excuse me,” said Adaine. Her face lit up with a smile and she immediately slipped into the crowd to find someone to spill the new gossip to, disappearing in seconds. Just as soon as slightly winded Fabian stepped out of it, his sheet over his shoulder.   
“How are you, The Ball?” he said brightly, “Not going to dance?”  
“Yeah, like I could dance!” he objected, bewildered, “Not my M.O. You look really good though, loved the thing at the end, the like… jump and twirl.”  
“Ah, yes, I’ve been working on that one,” Fabian answered, “You’re really not bored just standing here?”  
“Far from it. I’ve got plenty to look at.”  
Fabian squinted at the crowd. “Where, what-what are you seeing?”  
“Well…” Riz adjusted his stance, gesturing with his cup of punch. “You know Marsha Vell, the junior?”   
Fabian squinted through the crowd to find a tall, pretty brunette half-elf. “Um… yeah, I think so.”  
“She once had an experimental fling with Taylor Barkle, the head of the GSA. Taylor thought it was a real thing, but then Marsha hooked up with Mark Zorb and vagued about Taylor’s sex life on Instagram. Now it’s looking like she’s gonna ask Taylor to hook back up with her… Look.” He gestured subtly to a spot in the crowd.  
“Wh-where, what are you seeing?”  
“Right there, see?”  
Finally, Fabian spotted them. There was a pretty elven girl in a blue dress gingerly taking the hand of a stocky-looking tiefling in a suit with short purple hair. There was a moment where the tiefling looked confused, and then anger dawned on her face, and the words ‘I can’t believe you!’ furiously left her lips as she spun around and stormed off.   
“Ooh!” winced Riz, “That is rough.”  
Fabian turned to Riz with a mix of awe and worship. “How do you know all that?” he asked.  
Feeling very suave, Riz answered, “It’s all about the clues, Fabian.”  
A brilliant smile lit up on Fabian’s face. “Do you know every piece of drama in this school?!”  
“Well…” Riz said humbly.  
“This… is… a… superpower!” Fabian exclaimed, “What else is there, introduce me to this… little world of clues.”  
Riz grinned, intermittently pointing into the crowd. “Well… Ferria Darwin is sleeping with the wizardry teacher,” - he gestured to a good-looking elven girl subtly grabbing the ass of a rough-looking wizard in his thirties - “Kai Duk’Resh is working up the nerve to ask Ragh to dance, but he’s only out as trans to part of the school and he’s afraid Ragh will refuse him because he thinks he’s a girl,” - he gestured to a nervous looking goblin boy who was getting a powerful pep talk from a younger, human girl - “And my favorite… oo-hoo-hoo.” He took a sip of his drink.  
“What, what is it, tell me!”  
With a grin, Riz gestured into the crown towards Skrank. “Skrank told the whole school he slept with Twyla Green and it lead to a month-long fight between her and her long term boyfriend she’s been with since she was a freshman, Grog Yvette. And now, it’s looking like Grog may have found out just now.”  
“Alright, well how can you possibly know that?”  
“Well, because he’s about to punch Skrank in the face.”  
Sure enough, there was a parting in the crowd as, right along with the bass drop of the music, the fist of the burly Earth genasi met like concrete with the beak of Skrank, and the entire dance erupted in cheer. Fig’s jaw dropped, Gorgug covered his mouth, and Zelda filled the auditorium with an impossibly loud, “YES!”  
“Ho-ly shit!” Fabian exclaimed, eyes wide, “Riz, you are a mastermind! This is literally insane, this was… the best idea, I can’t believe I was gonna ask you out!”  
Perhaps Riz should have found that offensive, but really he only found it funny, laughing suddenly and loudly. “I think the worst part if you had asked me out was that I would have to slow dance!” he said.   
“I mean… it certainly would have been… a look for you,” Fabian said, looking out at the group of teachers trying to pull Grog off of Skrank.  
“That said-” went on Riz, “It is starting to get… pretty funky in here.”  
“Oh, yeah?”  
Fabian watched as Riz performed a series of nigh-robotic, awkward, almost ska-like dance moves, going from something subtle to a full, idiotic flailing of his arms. He grinned at him and said, “Oh-ho, yes, the Ball, yes!” He whipped out his sheet and spun Riz into a buttirot, before pulling back and spinning him like a top, where he fell down onto the gym floor in a pile of laughter. Fabian offered him a hand, grinning back. “Come on, Riz” he said, “Let’s get in there!” He took his hand and pulled him into the crowd as Fig struck the first chord of the next dance song, and the place lit up with dance.


End file.
